"The Final Cut" would be exactly that: the last Pink Floyd album Waters would participate in. If tensions among the band members were high during the album's making, the product was remarkably smooth.
While many, including the band members who would continue on as Pink Floyd after Waters's departure from the group, have criticized the album as being little more than filler and outtakes from "The Wall," "The Final Cut" contains some of Waters's most moving poetry. The Floyd's own Britannia Row was not used for "The Final Cut." Gilmour and Mason were the facilities' sole owners by this point. Recorded at eight studios in England, the album was made between June and December 1982. So, in the end, Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason were relegated to little more than session players, coming in to play their bits, while Waters, the album's sole composer, co-produced it with James Guthrie and Michael Kamen, both of whom participated on "The Wall." It was the same technique Waters had used on Wright to get him to cooperate.
During "The Final Cut" sessions Waters held David Gilmour's feet to the fire by threatening to scrap the project unless Gilmour relinquished co-producing the effort. The band had planned on putting out an album called "Spare Bricks," composed of alternate takes and rerecordings from "The Wall" that appeared in the film "Pink Floyd The Wall." But the notion moved Waters to begin writing more material dealing with the tragedy of war, continuing the thread created in "The Wall." Thus, "The Final Cut" was born.īy this point, keyboardist Rick Wright had already been forced out of the group by Waters, who claimed he wasn't contributing to the band. In fact, "The Final Cut" is subtitled "A requiem for the post war dream by Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd." One doesn't have to read too far between those lines to see where the group was heading. Scarfe, who had previously created animations for the band’s In The Flesh tour, also created the LP's inside sleeve art and labels of both vinyl records of the album, showing the eponymous wall in various stages of construction, accompanied by characters from the story. The drawings would be translated into dolls for The Wall tour, as well as into Scarfe's animated segments for the film based on the album.Pink Floyd's 1983 album could very easily have become a solo effort for Roger Waters. Issues of the album would include the lettering of the artist name and album title by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, either as a sticker on sleeve wrapping or printed onto the cover itself, in either black or red. The album's cover art is one of Pink Floyd's most minimal - a white brick wall and no text.
Pink floyd the wall album art full#
From 1980 to 1981, Pink Floyd performed the full album on a tour that featured elaborate theatrical effects. Three singles were issued from the album: Another Brick in The Wall Part 2 (the band's only US number-one single), Run Like Hell, and Comfortably Numb. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imposed isolation from society is symbolized by a wall. Recording spanned from December 1978 to November 1979. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed The Wall at number 87 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.īassist Roger Waters conceived The Wall during Pink Floyd's 1977 In The Flesh tour, modeling the character of Pink after himself and former bandmate Syd Barrett. The Wall is one of the most well-known concept albums and was adapted into a 1982 feature film of the same name. The album has sold more than 24 million copies, is the second best-selling in the band's catalog, and is one of the best-selling of all time. Some of the outtakes from the recording sessions were later used on the group's next album, The Final Cut (1983).
It initially received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom found it overblown and pretentious, but later came to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time. The album was a commercial success, topping the US charts for 15 weeks, and reaching number three in the UK. The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released 30 November 1979 on Harvest and Columbia Records.